Board-em Is In

By now you’ve heard of the semi-new social media site, Pinterest. We reference “semi-new” because the site has actually been around since spring 2010. Pinterest is in invite-only mode and possibly still in its beta version (maybe?), as there are still some kinks that need to be worked out. Regardless, the site has garnered a great deal of attention across the web (like a masterfully planned PR campaign) and even has international fans or imitators* already (however, you choose to look at it).

If you haven’t heard of the site, consider yourself warned, because it’s slightly addictive. You come to realize how powerful visual stimulation is and may become a pinning fool. Pinterest serves as an inspiration or a vision board for some, a showroom for others and another way for people to express themselves.

We know that you may be overwhelmed with all of the available social media tools, however, if this one is right for your business, you’ll find that the interaction is different and rather enjoyable. Who doesn’t like to look at cool visuals or get inspired?

Some quick ways to jump in on the fun:

Share Your Personality
Whether you’re pinning for your business or for yourself, or collaborating on a board, Pinterest allows you to share a little bit of your personality with the world. Who knew you liked tattoos and puppies, right? How does this help from a business perspective? While some may be concerned about sharing too much, sharing things that resonate with your business or personal brand allows you to attract the types of clients who want to work with you and whom you’ll also want to have as customers. Plus, they may serve as great conversation starters!

It’s Not Just About You
As with all social media sites, the goal should be connection for businesses and while you’ll be pinning for your board, don’t just pin about your business or your clients’ businesses. Yes, upload your latest products, but also share the inspiration behind the product, which may make for great visuals. For instance, a fashion designer may share a landscape scene that inspired her new collection. While it’s about her new collection, it’s not just the finished product with a price tag. She’s sharing the story.

Be Creative
You have an opportunity to share quickly with Pinterest and it doesn’t take a lot of effort for people to become engaged with your boards and pins. You can share pictures of your staff when they were kids and have your clients/customers guess which pic belongs to whom or posts pics of your pets or even before and afters.

One question we received from a client is whether they should follow or re-pin images from their competitors. This definitely depends on your business. (Note: Do not get yourself fired! And use good judgment!) You’re probably not likely to re-pin or like all of your competitors’ products, however, if there’s something you like and it’s appropriate, why not? Your Pinterest account, boards, pins, etc. may then be used as a resource or “must visit” since you’ve pinned the coolest, most interesting things, regardless.

At White Book Agency, we respect your personal information and we are committed to protecting your privacy. We have updated our privacy policy to reflect how we collect data and interact with visitors at White Book Agency.

Personal Data We Collect & Disclosure
When you visit our site and/or contact us, we may collect personal information that you voluntarily provide, for instance, your name, mailing address, phone number, e-mail address, etc. or when you use our “contact us” feature, sign-up for downloads, e-mail alerts, contests or marketing promotions. This allows us to communicate with you upon request and provide you with White Book Agency e-mails, updates, service offerings, industry trends, client news, etc.

When inquiring about our Services, we may also collect information you voluntarily provide regarding your business, goals, and interest in our Services. This allows us to make recommendations and determine the suitability of our Services for your needs.

We are committed to safeguarding all information collected and your personal and submitted business information is only used for our internal purposes (again, for example, to communicate with you upon request and provide you with White Book Agency e-mails, updates, service offerings, industry trends, client news, etc.)

Technical Data
When you visit our website, technical data about your browsing actions and patterns may be tracked by automated site technology applications that we use. This may include the type of Internet browser you use, domain name of the web site from which you linked to our site, IP addresses, and technical and/or tracking data from analytics providers, e-mail technologies, search information providers, and advertising networks. The information that is collected allows us to understand more about our users which enables us to tailor our website to best suit awesome people like you and communicate back to those who visit our site with the latest advances, developments, and more at White Book Agency.

We also have cookies. And not the kind we like to eat, but the kind that provides you with conveniences and ease of getting around our website. For instance, if you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies so that you don’t have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. (These cookies will last for one year. So, totally not like the cookies we like that only last a few hours.)

On some areas of our site we may include embedded content, for instance, images, TV clips, news articles, etc. Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same ways as if you visited the other website. Don’t ask us how, it’s like Interweb magic. What we know is that these websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracing your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

None of your personal information or data that is collected will be sold, rented (nor borrowed), or marketed to any third parties.

Now, we do reserve the right to disclose your information, without your permission, if necessary, to protect and defend the rights, property and safety of White Book Agency, our clients, partners, employees, affiliates and other users of our website. So don’t do anything that’s not cool! We may also disclose information that is in compliance with any applicable disclosure laws and regulations (e.g. by the government or applicable business sale transactions).

Security
White Book Agency uses reasonable technological measures to maintain the security of your personal information and to keep it from loss, unauthorized access, misuse, or disclosure. This is the Internet though, and with the nature of technology and software applications, there is no guarantee of security of your personal information and we expressly disclaim obligation to such guarantees. By continuing to interact with and/or use our website, you are proceeding with this understanding.

Also, on our website, we occasionally link to other websites. White Book Agency is not responsible for any websites that we do not own or operate. Please carefully review the privacy policies of other websites that you link to from ours as we are not responsible for their privacy practices.

Oh, and we have to tell you something else. When you enter our site through an online advertisement located on a third-party site (that’s a site that someone else owns), this information is provided voluntarily. If you do not want to have this information collected, please do not submit it to us. Again, we will not sell, rent, or market personally-identifiable information collected on our site to any third parties. We don’t roll like that.

Updates
If you would like to access, correct, update or delete any personally identifiable information that we may have, or have questions about any data that we have, you may contact us at: itsprivate[at]whitebookagency[dot]com. When you contact us at this e-mail, we may need to request information from you in order to fulfill your request, which we will do in a reasonable amount of time.

Good grief, we think that’s it.

Any changes to our privacy policy will be featured on this website under Privacy Policy. If you ever have any questions, please contact us here or by e-mailing: itsprivate[at]whitebookagency[dot]com.